this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.

image and poem below the fold

Hostage American reporter Jill Carroll appears in a silent 20-second video aired Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006 by Al-Jazeera television, which said her abductors gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or she would be killed. Al-Jazeera would not tell The Associated Press how it received the tape, but the station issued its own statement calling for Carroll’s release. An Al-Jazeera producer said no militant group’s name was attached to the message that was sent to the station with the silent tape on Tuesday. However, a still photograph of Carroll from the videotape that later appeared on the Al-Jazeera Web site carried a logo in the bottom right corner that read ‘The Revenge Brigade.’ The group was not known from previous claims of responsibility of violence in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Al-Jazeera) * THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO *

Seven Curses
by Bob Dylan

Old Reilly stole a stallion
But they caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down on the jailhouse ground
With an iron chain around his neck.

Old Reilly’s daughter got a message
That her father was goin’ to hang.
She rode by night and came by morning
With gold and silver in her hand.

When the judge he saw Reilly’s daughter
His old eyes deepened in his head,
Sayin’, “Gold will never free your father,
The price, my dear, is you instead.”

“Oh I’m as good as dead,” cried Reilly,
“It’s only you that he does crave
And my skin will surely crawl if he touches you at all.
Get on your horse and ride away.”

“Oh father you will surely die
If I don’t take the chance to try
And pay the price and not take your advice.
For that reason I will have to stay.”

The gallows shadows shook the evening,
In the night a hound dog bayed,
In the night the grounds were groanin’,
In the night the price was paid.

The next mornin’ she had awoken
To know that the judge had never spoken.
She saw that hangin’ branch a-bendin’,
She saw her father’s body broken.

These be seven curses on a judge so cruel:
That one doctor will not save him,
That two healers will not heal him,
That three eyes will not see him.

That four ears will not hear him,
That five walls will not hide him,
That six diggers will not bury him
And that seven deaths shall never kill him.

– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet

read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story as well her comprehensive series on PTSD and Iraq War vets.

view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)

take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)

support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day